I was watching an old video I made during the hype for Nintendo´s 2010 Media Summit and felt like doing another such video. The result is a fun collage of scenes from a wide range of video games that paint a possible, though not likely, picture of what Nintendo´s and the Wii U´s future could hold. Anyway, it´s fun just seeing footage of some of these games. Here goes:

Out of nowhere, Electronic Arts decided to tease a new, yet unknown, BioWare-title. The only bit of stuff we have so far is a short video-teaser that shows no more than a rather generic military-guy and his gun. However, upon further observation, there are definite links between that teaser and the Mass Effect-franchise. As user Zenith pointed out by using a screencap of the teaser and a screenshot of Mass Effect 2, the gun-model that can be seen is almost identical. Not only that, but you can also see some hexagon-structures being used in the design of the unknown game. Following the teaser-video, BioWare released two binary-codes that translate into “55.845”, the atomic mass of iron, and “-128,5F”, which is -89,2°C, the coldest temperatur ever measured on Earth at Vostok, Antarctica in 1983.

That´s all the stuff we have gathered so far. Maybe BioWare releases more clues. At best, this marks the approaching reveal of Mass Effect 3. However, some kind of spinoff set during a previous event is more likely. Hopefully it isn´t some new franchise. There´s too much awesome stuff to tell and do within the ME-universe, and no matter if this is a ME3-announcement or not, it´ll be a long wait for the final part of the trilogy, so a spinoff to ease the wait would be welcome.

Just yesterday, some videos from Nintendo´s fall conference in Japan were released on Youtube. Besides Resident Evil: Revelations, which looks absolutely stunning, there´s also a video showing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, the Nintendo 3DS-remake of the famous N64-title and, according to general perception, best video game of all times. For what is worth, I´m of that opinion, too.

It is simply awesome to see this grand adventure running on a handheld, featuring vastly improved visuals and super-smooth animations. The environment´s objects are still N64-level, but that´s definitely due to Nintendo having chosen to leave it at that, not a shortcoming of the 3DS´ power. If you forget about the simple structured buildings for a moment, it looks really close to Twilight Princess and makes one wonder, if we´ll actually see a ground-up for 3DS-Zelda game. I sure hope so.

There´s even a possibility that Nintendo had more reason to do this remake rather than simply rushing out a big 3DS-game. Said possibility is that Nintendo plans to do another Zelda-game starring the Hero of Time. It´d certainly have less impact on new Zelda-fans if they didn´t even know who that Hero of Time was and why he´s so famous and important. What better way to introduce new fans to this part of the legend than by having them play the hero´s game itself?

On top of hoping that Majora´s Mask will see the same treatment, I really hope that Nintendo considers a third Hero of Time-game. For what we know, that Link simply vanished after saving Termina. But did he really vanish or did Nintendo just leave him be and proceeded to create The Wind Waker? As a matter of fact, the Hero of Time IS the center core of all 3D-Zelda games. Starring in two games, having a statue in Hyrule Castle in TWW, and being referenced in Twilight Princess, where we see what happened to Ganondorf after young Link went back in time and warned princess Zelda. The only 3D-Zelda game that might not be related to that one hero could be the upcoming Skyward Sword, but even then, weird, crazy stuff could happen. All I know is that I´d love to play one final game as the Hero of Time and see how he ends up. Besides the needed conclusion to his person, it could end up revealing further connections to other Zelda-games. I don´t want to start writing about fan-theories in this blog-entry, but …

It´s finally finished. For the past week, I´ve been occupied with something I really wanted to express myself with. Due to gamescom, it took longer than planned, but anyway, here it is. I once talked about my personal dream game. No, not some Zelda-game. There´s something that goes even beyond that, when it comes to what I really want. That is, INfinity.

I won´t write any much more about it, you can just watch for yourself what INfinity is. But to share some basic details: It´s the ultimate adventure experience. A game that I´d call “next-gen”, but not because of higher resolution or such rubbish. This is a concept I´d love to play oh so much. And in case it´s not made clear enough in the video: The character you´re playing is not some badass. He´s also not a super-equipped expert. He´s just a guy … lost in space (and to be even more clear, if that was turned into a real game, it should just feature a character-editor). But now, I hope you enjoy watching the following video. It took quite a lot of effort drawing all the pictures and finishing them on the PC, as well as composing the video afterwards. Though, whatever you think of it, I´m just honestly glad that I took the chance to show off this idea that I had in my head for so long. Here it is:

Not a new article on FlyingFisch for well over a week. I´m sorry for that, my duty on another website is keeping me very busy, though, during this gamescom-week. Anyway, just wanted to tell whoever likes reading this blog: It´s not dead, not forgotten 🙂

To put a bit more stuff into this entry, let me express just how badly I want the Nintendo 3DS. There have been some new pictures of the hardware and it looks simply perfect. But Nintendo said that the design is not 100% finished, so maybe it´ll get even “more perfect”. Oh well.

By the way, there also another reason why it had been that much time since the last blog entry. Well, two. For one, I don´t write when I have no interesting topic to talk about, and I have no obligation to press myself into writing each and every week. That´d would just make for some badly, uninspired written texts. The other one is that I started working on a, well, rather nerdy video-project. If you kept reading this blog, you know what my (current) dream concept for a video game ist. And while listening to the right music, I felt like expressing myself a bit more than just through words. So, expect some (hopefully not “that” shitty) 3- maybe 4-minute video in a bunch of days from now on. Gamescom will keep me away from working on that for at least two/three more days, though.

Anyway, lots of videos and screenshots from gamescom, guess there´s enough to keep any gamer busy at the moment. See ya next time!

It´s not news-worthy when I tell you how obsessed I am by the mere thought of the Nintendo 3DS these days. I literally can´t wait, which is why I´m writing this little article. We know that the 3DS will feature GameCube/Wii-like visuals, have analog-stick-like controls and, of course, a 3D-screen. There´s also some kind of tag-mode-thingy, though I´m not quite sure, yet, what exactly that´s going to be useful for. Anyway, with just the above, Nintendo has got a super-selling product lined up for whenever it is brought to the market, that´s guaranteed, is what I´d like to say – I´ve never seen that much universal hype for a single gaming-system before. But even with all its strong selling-points it already has, why not … make it the perfect entertainment device of the forever?

One feature that would really make a big impact would be a TV-out feature. I don´t know if that´s still a possibility, as people have seen what kind of attachment outlets the 3DS has, but if there is, oh well. If you´ve been reading this blog for a while, you know about my wish for a hybrid console/handheld, and, well, that´d be it. Hook up the 3DS to a TV and play games on the big screen. Considering that this would mean no 3D, the extra power could maybe even be enough for HD-gaming, couldn´t it. For a perfect hybrid-device, controller-support would be the last piece in the puzzle. Maybe that´s something for the next generation after 3DS – wirelessly connect a Wiimote to the 3DS and really, it´d be like a full home console, just usable on-the-go as well. No limitations as to where you play and how you play games.

Another neat feature which I hope for even more than the above one is proper video- and music-playback. Not only do even really old mobile phones feature that, Nintendo themselves already started it with the Nintendo DSi´s music-playback feature. Not to mention that even the GameBoy Advance was capable of playing videos under certain circumstances. I don´t expect Nintendo to give us all the codecs; just .mp3 for music and one of the popular video-formats would be enough. Of course, ideally they´d simply let us buy new codecs by ourselves. That way, it wouldn´t make the device more expensive for Nintendo, but consumers still would get the chance to use their 3DS to its fullest. Just have there be an appstore-like environment that I can enter. One category will be “codecs” where I can buy divx, xvid, avi, mkv, flac, aac and whatever else. As for music, some playlist-features would be great. For videos, simply letting me play them from SD-card would be good enough. With Nintendo themselves having shown 3D-movies being played on the 3DS, like “How to train a Dragon”, video-playback really seems like a no-brainer. But you never can be sure with Nintendo, can you.

Which leads us to the next big feature: An appstore for 3DS. Both Wii and DSi kinda have something like that already, remember how you could get the Opera-browser; but, of course, I´m imagining something a lot more elaborate here. Sure, Nintendo is all about the games, but why not let the consumer decide what his handheld should be capable of? That´s why such an online-shop for expanded functionality would be great. Simple stuff like a calculator, a calendar or a memo-function could be offered there, but also more complex stuff like an IRC-(internet relay chat)-application, or Skype or ICQ. Also, simple text-programs would be nice. After all, there´s already a software for Nintendo DS that teaches you how to paint, so why not a text-program, too? All of these are the more obvious idea, but there really would be no limit as to what kind of applications could be offered.

Something that´s probably the most unlikely feature to happen, but still would do wonders for some of the previous mentioned ideas, would be the inclusion of 3G – internet without the need of being close to a hotspot. Actually, I never got how these hotspots worked, anyway, as you still need a user name and password to use hotspots, and that´s hardly the case when not at home. 3G really would free the 3DS from all remaining boundaries. There are a lot of ways to have Nintendo get the money back for this feature´s costs – like offering different SKUs or include the 3G-costs into downloads, just to name two possibilities. There are so many ideas that could be done with 3G, so many that I´m not going to name them. Let´s just say: 3G in the 3DS would be really, really, neat. It probably won´t happen, but it´d be … neat.

On that note, something a friend of mine is wishing for is GPS. Personally, I don´t need it, but if it´s there, I wouldn´t complain about it. And to be honest, it´d allow for some interesting real life-virtual life-games in the vein of geo caching.

3G yes or no, improved online-features are a must. And by improved, I mean: Improved a lot. Basically, give me something on par with Xbox Live for the 3DS. A single friends list for all games. Demo-download without being in need of a Wii-system. Some social features like easy-accessable text-messaging and getting information about your friends, like what games they played, if they´re online right now, stuff like that. And make online-gaming be fast and easy. Make it easy to join friends´ games. Oh, and don´t separate game from system-menu. Give me something like the Xbox-button that keeps the game running in the background, but grants me control over all the system´s feature. Don´t make me quit a game, before I can send a friend a text-message, that´s what I mean. And that´s that.

Finally, I´d like to mention some games I´d love to see on the 3DS. Seemingly, it´s already announce, but we haven´t seen anything yet, so I´ll mention it anyway: Naruto Shippuuden: Gekitou Ninja Taisen! from Tomy/8ing. No matter if you like the Naruto-series or not, the GameCube-fighters were great fun and I was really addicted to them. 8ing´s last Wii-title sucked, though, but if they could return to their old fighting-strength, that´d beat any Dead or Alive or Streetfighter for me. Another game is Skies of Arcadia. And I don´t care if it´s a sequel or a port/remake. I want Skies of Arcadia on a handheld, and 3D alone would work wonders for flying ships and flying whales. As for a game that many gamers probably wouldn´t expect on a handheld, give me Metroid Prime 4 3DS. When I first thought about it I was like “uh, but how will it control?”, but then I remembered how Metroid Prime for GameCube controlled … you don´t need a second analog-stick at all for the Prime-series. Two other games that I´d like to see sequels for on the 3DS are Lugi´s Mansion and Endless Ocean. Both ghosts and fish are such obvious choices for making great use of a 3D-effect. Other than these games, it´s really hard to come up with something else – I mean, we already get a freakin´ Ocarina of Time-remake!

Again, never before have I been this hyped for a gaming-system, and never before have I seen such universal praise for one. Where people thought the Nintendo DS reached the mainstream, the 3DS will re-define what “mainstream” really is. First-party-support, third-party-support, and the first mainstream-device that features 3D – not only will this be every entertainment-lover´s device, it´ll also surpass anyone´s sales predictions. Now all there is to ask, is: Will the 3DS be fun, or will it be too much fun? Because these are really the only two remaining possibilities.

Besides the awesome visuals, what´s most intriguing is the combat-system. I actually thought it was going to be some turn-based system, but this is so much better. Looks more like Zelda meets Final Fantasy meets Gears of War. Combat looks very direct, very active. No passive command-choosing, but active fighting. Take cover behind objects, aim and shoot at an enemy, jump over objects and so on. And then there´s the town, that really looks nice. Maybe it´ll succeed my favorite video game-town, Windfall Island from The Wind Waker, who knows. The thing that I definitely know, however, is that at this moment, I´m more excited about The Last Story than Zelda: Skyward Sword. Now just announce this game for Europe and the USA, Nintendo!